


The Regular

by NinjaSpaz



Series: BokuAka Week 2020 [5]
Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Akaashi has a routine, Akaashi is a bit of an anxious mess tbh, Bakery AU, BokuAka Week 2020, Bokuto throws it off, Konoha is just trying to run his business, M/M, questionable metaphors probably
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-04
Updated: 2020-08-04
Packaged: 2021-03-05 22:41:10
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,852
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25702975
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/NinjaSpaz/pseuds/NinjaSpaz
Summary: Akaashi stands frozen in the doorway, blinking at the sudden brightness of the room. The room isn’t actually brighter, but the golden-eyed man behind the pastry case certainly makes it seem so. His smile is all teeth, painfully white, not unlike his hair. Akaashi blinks again as he notices the hair isn’t actually all white. He wonders if the man had stuck a fork in an electrical socket to make the dark and light streaked strands stand on end like that, if that was why half the spikes were white to begin with.-Akaashi's morning routine gets thrown for a loop when he meets the new pastry chef at his usual breakfast stop.
Relationships: Akaashi Keiji/Bokuto Koutarou
Series: BokuAka Week 2020 [5]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1857346
Comments: 25
Kudos: 160
Collections: Bokuaka Week 2020





	The Regular

**Author's Note:**

> BokuAka Week 2020 Day 5: Bakery AU
> 
> I don't really know what this is, to be completely honest with you.  
> This is like the complete opposite of my Bold Akaashi Agenda.  
> I don't even know if it makes sense, but I still really vibed with him in this one.  
> The a's in Akaashi stand for "anxious."

Akaashi likes routine.

Every morning, he wakes up, brushes his teeth, showers, and gets dressed, in that order. He leaves for work precisely at 7am and is careful to check the lock behind him. He sits in the same seat of the same train as he scrolls through his work emails on his phone. He disembarks at the same station and walks the same route to the bakery on the corner, two blocks south of his office. Konoha has his regular order ready for him when he walks in at precisely 7:21 and they exchange no more than 5 words (“Thanks.” “Have a good/great/splendid day!”). He takes his blueberry muffin and black coffee up to his desk on the 3rd floor office and picks at it throughout the morning as he answers emails and files reports. He takes a walk to the vending machine in the lobby around 1pm and gets a drink to have with his bento. He works through lunch. He leaves the office at 4pm and returns home. Three days a week, he goes to the gym in his building. He heats up his dinner after and settles in for the evening to catch up on reading or watch a mindless TV show. At 10pm, he brushes his teeth and goes to bed.

Akaashi likes his routine. It has not changed since moving to the city. His coworkers tease him for his predictability, his rigidity. They find him weird. It doesn’t bother him. He likes routine.

Life is easier to face when the river is steady. When the course is charted and he knows what’s ahead. He has always avoided the rapids, with their sharp curves and sudden drops and unpredictable currents. He goes with the flow, provided that flow is steady and already leading where he wants to go.

Nature is a force. It cares not a whit for the desires of simple humans and sometimes deems it necessary to remind them that they are not in control. The river bends.

-

Akaashi wakes up. He brushes his teeth. He showers and gets dressed and leaves his apartment at exactly 7am. He double checks the lock. He checks his emails in his usual seat on his usual train. He gets off at his usual stop. The door chime of Fukuro Café jingles at 7:21am. A thunderous roar crashes over him.

“Hey, hey, hey! Good morning! Welcome to Fukuro!”

Akaashi stands frozen in the doorway, blinking at the sudden brightness of the room. The room isn’t actually brighter, but the golden-eyed man behind the pastry case certainly makes it seem so. His smile is all teeth, painfully white, not unlike his hair. Akaashi blinks again as he notices the hair isn’t actually all white. He wonders if the man had stuck a fork in an electrical socket to make the dark and light streaked strands stand on end like that, if that was why half the spikes were white to begin with.

He steps forward in his confusion, noting the absence of the light-haired proprietor and his quiet smile. Konoha always has his order ready to go. Konoha never says more than 4 words to him. The snow-topped mountain behind the counter was standing in Konoha’s usual spot. “What can I get you?” he asks in that thunderous voice.

“Where’s Konoha-san?” He isn’t sure why it matters. He’s pretty sure it doesn’t. All he has to do is tell the incredibly muscular man behind the counter his order.

Wild-hair tilts his head to the side. With his wide, shining eyes, Akaashi is reminded of a bird of prey. “In his office finishing up some paperwork. Do you need me to get him?”

Konoha always gives him his order. The clock is already at 7:23. “No, it’s not a problem,” Akaashi says, voice tight as he tries to ignore the odd sensation twisting his stomach. “Can I just get a—,”

“Akaashi-san, I’m so sorry!” Konoha bursts through the double doors leading to the kitchen and his office, startling both his customer and his employee. “I lost track of the time.”

“It’s fine,” he stammers. Really, it is. It’s just a muffin.

Konoha hands him a steaming paper cup with a cardboard sleeve and a brown bag featuring the café’s owl logo. “No, I should have at least given it to Bokuto when I asked him to cover the front while I finished up.”

“Oh!” Bokuto claps his hands together, recognition alighting his features. “This guy is The Regular!”

Akaashi feels his face flush. Konoha’s face also sports a lovely shade of pink, not unlike the icing on his strawberry cupcakes. The clock reads 7:26. “It’s no trouble, Konoha-san, really.” He pulls out his wallet to pay for his regular order but Konoha shoos him out.

“It’s on the house, today,” he insists. “Go on, get to work!”

Akaashi doesn’t really have time to argue, but he resolves to leave a generous tip the next morning. “Thank you.” He inclines his head in a small bow before turning to leave.

“See you tomorrow, Akaashi-kun!” the sonorous voice booms after him. The twisting in his stomach intensifies.

He arrives at his desk only a couple minutes late. He goes through the rest of his day as usual. The only difference is his thoughts occasionally drift to wild plumage and luminous eyes.

-

In the morning, Akaashi wakes up. He brushes, washes, and dresses. He locks his apartment. He rides the train. He enters Fukuro Café at 7:21. Bokuto is filling the pastry case again, and his face lights up when it sees Akaashi. “Mornin’ Mr. Regular!” he beams. Akaashi twists his fingers as he wonders if they’re about to have a repeat of the previous morning. Bokuto laughs, low and rumbling like a distant waterfall. “Hey, there’s no need to look so worried. I’ve got your usual right here.” He moves towards the counter where, sure enough, the steaming paper cup and the brown paper bag are waiting.

Akaashi hands him his card as he picks up the order. “Thanks.”

“Don’t sweat it,” Bokuto grins, and the sun dims a little, and Akaashi’s stomach doesn’t twist so much as flutter. “Sorry about yesterday, by the way. If I had realized, I wouldn’t have made you late.” He hands the card back with a small gasp. Well, from anyone else it would have been small. From him it was like a small maelstrom. “I suppose I’m doing it again though by talking too much. Sorry about that, too.”

“It’s fine, Bokuto-san.” And he means it. He replaces his card to the proper slot of his wallet. He ducks his head as he turns to leave.

“Have a good day at work, Akaashi-kun!” Bokuto hollers after him as he makes his way to the door. “See you tomorrow!”

The muffin is still warm when he gets to his desk.

-

Akaashi incorporates his morning exchanges with Bokuto into his routine. He doesn’t mind getting to his desk five minutes later. Ten minutes later. Seeing Bokuto, talking with Bokuto (listening to Bokuto talk, mostly), is a greater rush than the caffeine in the black coffees Bokuto makes him.

“Why blueberry?” Bokuto asks him one morning a few weeks into their new routine.

Akaashi sips his coffee. He drinks half of it at the café most mornings now. “It was the first thing I tried.”

“So you just ordered it every time?” Bokuto’s eyes crinkled with amusement.

“It was good.”

Bokuto laughs, loud and forceful like the approaching rapids in the river of Akaashi’s life. “I’ll have to find something else you like, then.” Akaashi doesn’t need to find something new, but he finds himself intrigued by the prospect. Bokuto’s eyes widen and he leans forward on the counter. “Hey, come back for lunch! I’ll whip you up something special by then!”

Akaashi fingers the cardboard sleeve of his coffee cup, thinking about the bento in his work bag. It’s the same combination of rice and veggies it always is, the protein the only varying ingredient. Something sweet to get him through the afternoon lull doesn’t sound so bad though. “Ok.”

Bokuto’s smile stretches his face wide. Akaashi feels the warmth radiating off him like a small star. “You won’t be disappointed!”

He wasn’t.

-

The river takes another turn.

The current flows faster.

Akaashi brings his lunch down to the café at noon. He enjoys desserts courtesy of Bokuto. The pastry chef makes him different flavored muffins. He makes turnovers and macaroons and sweet breads and cupcakes. Each one is more delicious than the last, and every day he looks forward to what new creation Bokuto will come up with. He spends more and more time at the café.

Konoha watches it all unfold with a smile, but after a couple weeks he takes it upon himself to give them a nudge. “Bokuto, I’m flattered you love spending so much time at work, but surely you have better places to be after your shift ends?”

Bokuto’s eyes sharpen to a razor’s edge as he stares down his boss. Akaashi swallows hard, the raspberry button cookie losing its sweetness on his tongue. The river roars in the distance. “I’ve been keeping you late?” he asks, horrified at his inconsideration.

“No! No, not at all!” Bokuto hurries to assure him. Konoha leans against the counter with a smug grin. “I mean yeah, I’m here at the ass crack of dawn so I actually do get off at noon, but I like sticking around to have lunch with you!”

Akaashi takes another bite of raspberry cookie to process. It really is very sweet. “Really?”

“Best part of my day,” Bokuto says without hesitation. “Second only to 7:21 when you come in for your morning coffee.” Akaashi flushes to match the plate of cookies on the table between them. He’d be lying if he said he didn’t feel the same.

He likes his routine. He likes that Bokuto has become such a major fixture in his routine. He wants more of Bokuto in his routine. “Mine too,” he says softly. The radiant smile across the table is worth braving the rapids for.

“Then let’s go somewhere different for lunch tomorrow.”

“God, please,” Konoha mock-groans from the counter.

Bokuto laughs. Akaashi smiles.

They get lunch.

And dinner.

And many more meals after that.

-

Akaashi likes his routine.

He wakes up. He brushes his teeth. He showers. He gets dressed for work. The difference from before is the lingering warmth in his bed, a faint memory of soft lips against his hair at 3am, a whispered “see you for breakfast.” It’s the extra toothbrush in the cup by the sink and the bottles of product in the shower. It’s the new clothes in his closet that are too broad for his frame. It’s the trace scent of cinnamon or nutmeg in the kitchen as he collects his bento for the day before leaving his apartment at 7am. He checks emails on the train. The door of Fukuro Café chimes at 7:21.

The river flows steady.

**Author's Note:**

> Well anyway. I finished it on time to post at midnight. I would celebrate sticking to my schedule but I'm about to tell you that Day 6 is gonna be pushed back. It's already at 7k and it's barely halfway done. It ain't getting finished in the next 24 hours, lol. However, given that it's gonna be such a lengthy fic, and given that I haven't settled on a prompt for the free day, I've made the executive decision to take the extra couple days to finish Day 6 and post it as like a big bang for the free day. It's going to be a lot of fun so I want to make sure I do it right.
> 
> So! That's all I got for this prompt. If you enjoyed this funky little tale, please drop a kudos, comment, or come and chat with me on [Twitter](https://twitter.com/anininjaspaz.com)! See you on Thursday for Day 7!
> 
> UPDATE 8/5: So uhhh the hurricane knocked out power to pretty much my entire state and I don't know when it's coming back. I will still have the rest of these fics for you, but they're gonna be delayed until my power and internet come back. (Data is fubar too 😭) Sorry about that, I know it's literally beyond my control, but I will be back soon! Thanks for all the lovely comments on all my fics too, I will try to answer them as soon as I am back!


End file.
